Curse of DarKastle
- Thread starter Zachary
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I find it ironic that you used to have to wait in the blistering heat to ride DK. I didn't remember them adding the tree, but i did recall them adding the misting fans around the park soon after.
iirc for the first few years it was hard to ever find the line shorter than the ramp up to the porch. This was of course partially due to the original preshow starting at the doors that led inside the castle. When I think about it, it is really dramatic how quickly this ride deteriorated. It was one of the last rides of the AB era, and I doubt we will ever get anything like it again.
iirc for the first few years it was hard to ever find the line shorter than the ramp up to the porch. This was of course partially due to the original preshow starting at the doors that led inside the castle. When I think about it, it is really dramatic how quickly this ride deteriorated. It was one of the last rides of the AB era, and I doubt we will ever get anything like it again.
2007 still there.
2008 seems gone.
2010 certainly gone.
2008 seems gone.
2010 certainly gone.
I literally just educated my friend on DarKastle, cause she said the building was oddly tall when she met Santa ??
Is it bad when I went back to that day in my images backup to look for photos of the wolf sculpture and realized these are my photos I took and I didnt realize it? Anyhow, my wife and son were the ones in the photo talking to the team member, from that point it was just over a 5 hour wait.
Found a few more pictures of just before it opened as well as a couple of the wolf sculpture. The fountains were outside of the queue area and have been converted to planters.
Was just watching a video and noticed a very... peculiar item in the background. Gotta say I'm jealous. Edit: Reached out to the guy and he said he won it at an auction
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Employees of Darkastle were never offered an opportunity to keep any mementos and it’s sad. Not even the books they signed.
OK, which one of you is responsible for this addition to the Curse of DarKastle Wikipedia page?
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I have a very funny story on CoDk and basically it involved the building lights turning on. The first half of the ride was normal until the flying towers scene. The entire screen went blank, the lights turned on and the sleigh just kept rocking side to side without moving for like 1 minute. Not to mention the sound cut out as well. Once the building lights turned back off the ride seemingly returned to normal but NOPE. The ride kept skipping some scenes and staying on some scenes for far to long. The employees explanation was and I quote, "oh some tall guy puked but he leaned forward and it hit the ride system". I said in my head "WHY DIDNT YOU SHUT IT DOWN" but in real life I just said "oh ok" because reasons.
Still amazes me how much time, money, research, and engineering was invested in this ride... and now it just "isn't there".
I can second this. People I’ve spoken to with connections to the ride’s development are still dumbfounded by what happened to DarKastle. I know Drachen Fire will always be remembered, but it deserved its fate. I know The Wolf will always be remembered, but its demise can be reasonably explained. DarKastle was the rare example of an attraction whose murder was both in no way justified or reasonably explainable. I think its removal is bound to be looked back on as a huge black mark in BGW’s history—possibly as the moment Busch Gardens Williamsburg forfeited any concept of itself as a destination theme park.
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Why be sad when we’re getting a 355 FOOT TALL 100+ MPH INTAMIN SHUTTLE COASTER THE YEAR AFTER WE JUST GOT AN INTAMIN SHUTTLE COASTER LETS GO!! MIGHT AS WELL BRING BACK ILLUMINIGHTS WHILE WE’RE AT IT!
In all seriousness, I do think DK was on its last legs towards the end. I don’t think it got anything close to the ridership it needed to warrant the cost of maintenance as it rarely had a wait compared to other roller coasters and attractions throughout the park. SEAS is also notorious for letting themed attractions slowly degrade into shells of themselves and this even occurred during the AB era, as seen with Rhino Rally and JTA. I’ve heard rumors for years that BGT was supposed to receive a dark ride in a similar vein to DK from Falcon’s Treehouse based on an Egyptian theme and I wonder if DK just never hit the mark they had expected. When this ride was installed, it was the single largest investment in the history of the park until Verbolten. It was a multi-year project with the collaboration of several companies and unlike anything the chain had tackled before. I think the reception wasn’t there that the park expected when the ride first opened and combine that with declining ridership every year it was just getting closer and closer to biting the dust.
I think the marketing of the ride was a failure as it advertised this loose story, a 90’ degree drop, and featured essentially nothing with the actual story of the ride. When commercials for Spider-man or Transformers came out they weren’t centered around a straight down drop it was about the story and the adventure “you,” the rider, were about to embark on. Obviously, it could be unfair to make this comparison as both of those attractions are tied to well known IPs, but they aren’t marketing one specific part of a dark ride. Dark rides are supposed to be a multi-media transport system that is designed to tell a story. No park ever advertises one specific part of a dark ride, it’s supposed to be an immersive experience that takes several different forms of media and combines them together to convey the story which DarKastle did excel at for a regional park. I feel all the hype was for this drop in the attraction which is cool, but there’s so much more to the attraction.
I imagine there was some confusion as to what DarKastle was in the eyes of the GP. Oktoberfest is a very light, happy area with bright yellows and blues, and loud oompah music blaring through the speakers and it’s all around a fairly lively area. Seeing this dark foreboding castle, and grey showbuilding, contrasted the area greatly. I think the placement was rather poor as that part of the park is very alive and full of motion and Darkastle just didn’t fit that theme as it stood out immensely with its foreboding facade and eerie music. This area of the park has a family coaster that is an absolute people eater, a massive dining facility, and a number of flats for a variety of riders. It’s hard to pull in riders with so many other attractions that pull in families. I think had the entrance been in Germany, closer to where the entrance to Cornered was, there would be higher ridership as outside of LOD, Alpengeist, and the Skyride there is no other rides in that country.
However, it does shock me that the park just completely removed all remanats of the ride system. No matter what comes next, if that building stays it will be a dark ride. It’s too small and short for a coaster and I doubt the park would fill the space with flats, but then again I also would doubt the park would work with Intamin and here we are.
I absolutely love DarKastle and it is still saddening walking past that giant facade everytime I visit the park. I think there was a lot more factors at play than we know that lead to the demise of the beloved attraction. Theming has proven to not work with SEAS as seen with the failures of Antarctica, Explorers Reef, and arguably Verbolten. It really is a shame that it’s gone, but I hope one day another attraction lies within these castle walls.
It was still better than some coasters at the park in 2017 *cough tempesto cough*
I hate this comment because Tempesto gets too much hate, but if I had to choose between the two I would still definitely choose to have DarKastle.
With some modifications, this could become the new enchanted lab. Just saying...